The hip-hop mogul tweeted that he was "proud of Taylor Lautner for his bravery and his courage," but upon realizing that the image was a hoax, he rescinded his initial statement, writing instead that he was "disappointed that people would joke about someone coming out about their sexuality. Let Taylor Lautner be whoever he wants to be..."

Lautner, 19, is no stranger to rumors about his sexuality. In November, he told Parade magazine that "it's tough" to avoid reading about himself: "It's definitely impossible to avoid stuff about me sometimes, but it's pretty important to try.

"It's very rare that things are true about yourself that are on the Internet," he said at the time. "It's just sad sometimes. So you definitely want to stay away from it as much as possible."

BERLIN, Germany — With the debt conflagration now blazing across Europe’s borders, the world is urging the euro zone’s leaders to staunch it by unleashing the powers of the European Central Bank.

Many European leaders are advocating this as well. The problem: Germany is resolutely opposed to this.

The U.S. took a groundbreaking step on global LGBT rights Tuesday, joining the UK in tying foreign aid to governments’ protection of sexual minorities, raising the stakes in the increasingly globalized battle over gay rights.